SOUTH EASTON, Mass., March 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Pressure BioSciences, Inc. (OTCQB: PBIO) ("PBI" and the "Company"), a leader in the development and sale of broadly enabling, pressure cycling technology ("PCT")-based sample preparation solutions to the worldwide life sciences industry, today announced the commercial release of the PCT-HD system. The Company plans to highlight PCT-HD at the annual meeting of the US Human Proteomic Organization ("US HUPO"), being held March 15-18 in Tempe, Arizona.  The Company added that key advantages of the PCT-HD System in the application of biomarker discovery will be discussed in two separate presentations during the conference.

The PCT-HD System combines two of the Company's unique products: the recently released, patent-pending micro-Pestle consumable with an enhanced Barocycler NEP2320 instrument.  This combination enables faster, less cumbersome and higher quality homogenization, extraction, and digestion of proteins.  PCT-HD was developed by the Company's scientists and engineers in collaboration with Professor Ruedi Aebersold and Dr. Tiannan Guo of the Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zurich, and the University of Zurich, both in Zurich, Switzerland.  Drs. Aebersold and Guo have recently combined PCT-HD with AB Sciex's SWATH-Mass Spectrometry – calling the resulting method "PCT-SWATH".

Dr. Nate Lawrence, Vice President of Marketing and Sales for PBI, said: "For the creation of PCT-HD, we greatly increased both the maximum working temperature and pressure of our standard Barocycler instrument. We then incorporated the unique homogenization and extraction capabilities of our new, patent-pending micro-Pestle consumable with this enhanced Barocycler instrument.  The result was a significantly improved method for protein homogenization, extraction, and digestion.  This was particularly true with small tissue samples, such as the type of sample a scientist gets from a needle biopsy.  We believe the data in the two separate presentations being made this coming week at the US HUPO Meeting will highlight the clear advantages of our new PCT-HD System."

Mr. Richard T. Schumacher, President and CEO of PBI, stated: "We are very excited about the introduction of the PCT-HD System to the worldwide proteomics market. As we move deeper into the age of precision medicine, there is a critical need to continually have new and improved tools to increase the recovery of proteins from both diseased and normal specimens, especially from small needle biopsy tissue samples.  This improvement in sample preparation needs to be accomplished dependably for hundreds and even thousands of different proteins. The data generated by Drs. Aebersold and Guo using the Beta version PCT-HD System indicate that this new system can greatly improve the quality and recovery of proteins from tissue samples prior to analysis.  Scientists worldwide understand that improved sample preparation accelerates discovery, which can then lead to faster and better outcomes."

Mr. Schumacher continued: "In addition to the key advantages of greater speed, easier handling, and increased quality, the PCT-HD System also offers a level of flexibility that we believe will greatly support its adoption and growth across multiple markets.  Although Drs. Aebersold and Guo have developed protocols for the combination of PCT-HD with SWATH-MS, the PCT-HD System is not limited to any certain mass spectrometer or method of data analysis.  On the contrary, we believe that PCT-HD can become an important front-end sample preparation tool with virtually any mass spectrometer in use in proteomics today.  Thus, we believe there is a very large potential market for PCT-HD, the next generation protein preparation system."

About US HUPO

US HUPO, or the US Human Proteomic Organization, engages in scientific and educational activities to encourage the use of proteomics (study of proteins) technologies and to disseminate knowledge pertaining to the human proteome and that of model organisms.  The annual conference is one of the more important meetings held each year focusing on proteins; hundreds of scientists from throughout the world are expected to attend. The 2015 conference is to be held in Tempe, Arizona from March 15-18. 

About Pressure BioSciences, Inc.

Pressure BioSciences, Inc. ("PBI") (OTCQB: PBIO) develops, markets, and sells proprietary laboratory instrumentation and associated consumables to the estimated $6 billion life sciences sample preparation market. Our products are based on the unique properties of both constant (i.e., static) and alternating (i.e., pressure cycling technology, or PCT) hydrostatic pressure. PCT is a patented enabling technology platform that uses alternating cycles of hydrostatic pressure between ambient and ultra-high levels to safely and reproducibly control bio-molecular interactions. To date, we have installed over 250 PCT systems in approximately 160 sites worldwide. There are over 100 publications citing the advantages of the PCT platform over competitive methods, many from key opinion leaders. Our primary application development and sales efforts are in the biomarker discovery and forensics areas. Customers also use our products in other areas, such as drug discovery & design, bio-therapeutics characterization, soil & plant biology, vaccine development, histology, and forensic applications.      

Forward Looking Statements

Statements contained in this press release regarding PBI's intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations, or predictions of the future are "forward-looking'' statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based upon the Company's current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties, and other factors include, but are not limited to, the risks and uncertainties discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, and other reports filed by the Company from time to time with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the information included in this release, except as otherwise required by law.

For more information about PBI and this press release, please click on the following website link:  http://www.pressurebiosciences.com

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SOURCE Pressure BioSciences, Inc.